Button-attaching machine



(No Model.)

1. J. SAUNDBRS. BUTTON ATTAGHING MACHINE.

Patented Oct. 18, 1887.

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'by y.

N. PETERS, Pmmulmgnphar. wamingmn. D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.,

IRA J. SAUNDERS, 0F LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS.

BUTToN-ATTACHING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 371,632, dated @ctober 18, 1887.

Application filed February 14, 1 887. Serial No. 227,514. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern,.-

Be it known that I, IRA J. SAUNDERs, of Lynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Attach. ing Buttons, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of buttonattaching machines in which the buttons and the fastenings are automatically fed to the position for setting the fastening, and is an improvement upon the invention described in Letters Patent No. 344,220, granted to me as the assignee of Eugene H. Taylor, June 22, 1886; and it consists in certain novel features of construction, arrangement, and com bination of parts, which will be readily understood by reference to the description of the drawings, and to the claims to be hereinafter given.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a sectional elevation of so much of my improved machine as is necessary to properly illustrate my invention. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of portions of the same parts. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of portions of the same parts, and Fig. 4 is a transverse section of the driver-stock raceway and the cam-plate for moving the driver laterally.

In the drawings, A is the frame of the head of the machine, consisting of a hollow column providedI with the laterally-projecting anvilsupport a, the arms l and b', in which are formed bearings for the reciprocating driverstock or plunger c, and the curved arm d, all constructed and arranged substantially as shown and described in said Letters Patent No. 344,220.

B is a rotatable cylinder having upon its exterior a series of vertical raceways or grooves, e, each adapted to receive a series of button` fasteners with buttons attached, as shown and described in said prior patent.

C is a lever having its fulcrum on the pinf set in the curved arm d, and havingvconnected thereto,at or near the middle of its length,the rod D, the lower end of which is connected to a treadle-lever mounted upon a fulcrum-pin set in thelower portion of a supporting-co1- umn, said rod D, being provided with a spiral spring, D,within the frame A, for moving said rod, the lever C, and the cylinder B upward, said spring resting at its lower end upon an abutment in the form of a plate supported by the upper end of the supportingcolumn, and acting at its upper end against a collar, g, secured upon the rod D, all as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and as shown and describedin the above-mentioned Letters Patent.

To the front end of the lever C is pivoted the upper end of the driver-stock c, mounted in bearings in the arms?) and b', and provided near its lower end with the offset 71, to which is rmly secured the steel driver h', as shown in Fig. 1.

The cylinder B is mounted upon the spindle or short vertical shaft E, having a bearing in the hub at the end of the curved arm d, and upon which is firmly secured the cylinder-supporting disk or rim F, provided at one side with the pendent ear i, to which issecured the upper end of the plate H, which in turn is secured to the front ends ot' the arms b and b by means of the screws jj, whichpass through slots k k, formed in said plate, and screw into said arms, as shown in Fig. 2.

The plate H Ihas formed therein the vertical slot or groove l, of the form shown in Fig. 4, the upper end of which coincides with the lower end of one of the correspondingly-shaped grooves e, formed in the periphery of the cylinder B, when properly set and locked, which is done as described in the Letters Patent here'- inbefore referred to.

The groovel in the plate H serves as a guide or raceway to direct the fasteners with buttons attached to a position in close proximity to the material in which they are to be set.

The spindle` E rests at its lower end upon the boss m, formed upon the lever C, and when the lever C is moved upward by the action of the spring within the frame A the cylinder B, disk or rim F, and raceway H l are moved upward too, and maintained in the position shown in Fig. 1, or with the lower end of the raceway H Z raised about one-quarter of an inch above the upper surface of the anvil @,rirmly secured upon the supporting-arm a in a position directly beneath the raceway, as shown.

A slot, o, is cut through the back of the raceway H Z, near its lower end, to permit a lateral movement of the driver h and the offset portion of the driver-stock c through IOD the same, so that the driver h' as it descends may be moved into the groove Z and descend therein directly upon the button-fastener and drive it into the material placed upon the anvil n, and as it ascends said driver may be retracted from said groove, so as to permit a free passage of the fastener with the button attached down said raceway to a point near its lower end. This lateral movement of the driver is obtained by means of the anti-fric` tion roll p, mounted upon a stud, p', set in the side of the driver-stock c and projecting into the curved cam-slot q, formed in the plate I, secured in a fixed position upon the sides of the arms b and b', as shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4.

The downward movement of the column of buttons in the raceway H Z and the groovepe in the cylinder B, which for the time being is set to coincide with said raceway, is arrested by the curvedV lever r, the free end of which bears againstthe front' face of the plate H when the driver, the raceway, and the cylinder are at the extreme of their upward movements, as shown in Fig. 3.

Another curved lever, r', located below the lever r, with its free end upward, is connected to said lever r by the spring s, said leversvI and 7" being provided, respectively, with a rearwardly-projecting straight arm, r and r3, the construction, arrangement, and operation of said levers r r2 and r r3 being the same as described in t-he Letters Patent hereinbefore referred to. I

The lever i is moved outward by the action vofthe pin s upon the arm r3 during the last part ofthe upward movement of the driver-stock c, in which said pin is set.

When the driver-stock begins to descend,the lever r begins to move inward and continues to so move until its free end comes in contact with the front of the raceway, at which time the pin s2, set in the lever C, has come'in contact Awith the arm r2 and commenced to move the free end of the lever r outward to release the column of buttons and allow them to descend till arrested by the lever o", all substantially the same as described in said prior patent.

In said prior patent the button and fastener to be set were received at the end of the raceway in a carrier the groove in which had side walls that approached each other at its lower i end nearer than at its upper end, for the purwith the material resting upon the anvil.

pose of preventing the fastener dropping through said carrier before the carrier reached a position beneath the driver and in contact In this case the raceway has parallel sides, through the whole length ot' which the button-fastener, with its button attached, may drop freely, unless arrested in its course by some means outside of said raceway-such, for instance, as

the levers r and r. Y

To arrest the singlefastener and its attached button4 at or near the end of the raceway in position to be acted upon by the driver in its descent, I secure to the front of the raceway a third curved elbow-lever, t, with its curved free end downward and itsstraight'rearwardlyprojecting arm. t/ connected by the link t2 to the arm r2, as shown in Figs.v 2 and 3.

The operation of myinvention is as follows: The several parts being in the positions shown in the drawings, with a button supported by the lever t near the end of the raceway and a column of buttons in the raceway above the lever r, the operator places the material in which the fastener is to be set upon the anvil n, Abetween it and the end ofthe raceway H Z, and placesI his foot upon the treadle (not shown) and presses downward thereon, to compress the spring within the column of the frame A and move the front end of the lever C and the driver h and driver'stock c downward. When the lever C movesv downward, the cylinderB and raceway/H Zand disk orrim F are all moved downward by the force of gravity until the end'of the raceway rests upon the material placed upon the anvil. The first part of the downward movement of the driver-stock causessaid stock and its driver to be movedlaterally till the driver h' is in a vertical position in the center of the groove Z and directly over the fastener in said groove, near the end of the raceway, said driver-stock pivoting about a point in line with the upper edge of its bearing in the arm b. Vhen the lower end of the raceway H Z comes in contact with the material placed upon the anvil n, the downward Amovement of said raceway, the disk or rim F,

and the cylinder B is'arrc'sted, while the continued downward movement of the driverh forces the prongs of the fastener through the material against the anvil, by which they are clinchedin a well-known manner. During the iii-st part of the downward motion of the driver-stock c the descent of the 'pin s perf mits the lever i" r3 to move about its axis till the free end of the arm r thereof comes in contact with the front face of the raceway, at which time the free end ot' the lever r is moved outward or away from `the raceway by the downward movement of the pin s2 acting upon the arm r2 of said lever, thereby permitting the column' of buttons above said leverr to descend until the lower button comes in contact with the lever r. When the operator removes his foot from the treadle, the reaction of the spring on the rod D causes the rod D, leve;` C, driver-stock c, raceway H Z, disk or rim F, and the cylinder B to be moved upward to the positions shown in the drawings. The upward movement of the driver-stock c and the pins s and s2 first permits the levers rand tto be moved about their axis by the reaction of the spring s until the free ends of said levers come in conta'ct with the front face of the raceway and the end of the lever r has been interposed between thelower button in the'column in the raceway above the lever r' and those above it, when the pin s comes in contact with the arm r3 of the lever r and caiises the free end of said lever r to be moved away from the raceway, thereby permitting the single) button held thereby to descend the raceway Ico until arrested by the lever t in position to be set at the next descent of the driver.

Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

l. In a machine for attaching buttons, a straight vertical and vertically-movable raceway having a T- shaped cross -section and adapted to receive and guide a column of staple-fasteners and their attached buttons, in combination with a fixed anvil located directly beneath said raceway, a reciprocating driver arranged in close proximity to said raceway, and parallel, or nearly so, therewith, and provided with an antifriction roll mount-ed upon a laterally-projecting stud set therein, and a xed cam constructed and adapted to move the lower end of said driver laterally into and out of said raceway, and means, substantially as described, for moving said raceway vertically, substautially as and for the purposes described.

2. The combination, in a machine for attaching buttons, ofthe vertical staple-raceway H Z,having the slot o cut through its back side near its lower end, the vertically-reciprocating driver-stock c, provided with the offset h, the driver Z1/,secured to the front face of said offset portion of the driver-stock, the antifriction roll J@,carried by said driver-stock,the xed plate I, provided with the cam-slot q,and the fixed anvil n,located directly beneath said raceway,all constructed, arranged,and adapted to operate substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. In a button-attaching machine, the combination of a fixed anvil, a straight vertical staple-raceway arranged directly over said anvil and rigidly attached to a cylindersupporting disk or rim firmly secured upon a vertically-movable spindle having a bearing in the frame of the machine, a rotatable cylinder mounted upon said disk or rim and provided upon its exterior with a series of grooves corresponding in shape and size in cross-section to the groove in said raceway,and adapted to be brought successively into position over and in line with said raceway, and means,sub stantially as described, for moving said raceway, disk or rim, and cylinder vertically, for the purposes described.

At. In combination with a ixed anvil, a straight vertical stapleraceway, the groove in which is of the same width throughout its entire length and movable vertically to and from said anvil, a vertically-reciprocating and laterally-moving driver and stock, an intermittently-vibrating elbow -lever constructed and arranged to be moved about its axis in one direction by the descent of said driver and its stock and in the other direction by a spring,

and arranged to be operated substantially as described, to arrest the descent of a button and its staple at or near the lower end of said raceway when the raceway is at or near the extreme of its upward movement, and to re lease said button again when said raceway is in Contact with the anvil or the material resting thereon, and in time to be moved by the driver during the last part of its downward movement, substantially as described.

5. The combination of the fixed anviln, the straight vertical raceway H Z,having a groove of uniform width throughout its entire length and movable vertically to and from said anvil, the verticall y-reci procating and laterali y-movable driver and stock h c, the elbow-levers r r2, c" r3, and t t', the link t2, connecting the arms r2 and t', the spring s, connecting the arms r and 1,and the pins s and s2, constructed and arranged to be moved vertically in unison with the driver and to act upon the arms r" and r3, substantially as described.

6. In a machine for attaching buttons, a straight vertical and vertically-movable raceway having a T-shaped crosssection, and adapted to receive and guide a column of staple-fasteners and their attached button, in combination with an anvil located directly beneath said raceway, a vertically-reciprocatiug and laterally-movable driver arranged parallel, or nearly so,to said raceway, a cam for moving said driver laterally, and mechanism,substantially as described, for reciprocating said driver and moving said raceway vcrtically,as and for the purposes described.

7. The combination of the straight vertical raceway H Z, the disk or rim F, the cylinder B, and the spindle E,all mounted and movable vertically together upon the frame A,with the driver and stock h e, a cam for moving said driver and stock laterally, the lever C, the treadle-operated rod D, and the spring D,all constructed, arranged, and adapted to operate substantially as and for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this speciticatiomin the presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 5th day of February, A. D. 1887.

IRA J. SAUNDERS.

Witnesses:

N. C. LOMBARD, WALTER E. LOMBARD.

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